Classmate and Friends
by angelusmusicorum
Summary: Chat Noir finally manages to get his Lady's number... So why is it when he goes to put it in, it's already saved as 'Princess?
1. Chapter 1

They were classmates and classmates kept their other fellow students' numbers for projects and stuff.. Right? _He managed to convince himself to channel his inner Chat Noir and just ask her for her number even though it filled him with enough nerves that seemed to somehow make his bad luck even worse._ That was why he had her number.

Marinette had somewhat grown accustomed to him enough to calm her stutter though there was still a trace of it, only keeping her ever present blush when talking to him. Alya had somehow managed to convince him and Marinette that Miss Bustier had paired the two up for a project. _How she managed to convince Nino was beyond him._

It definitely took the girl a while to get comfortable but when he did, he had managed to convince her to hang out with him more and not for the project. He had managed to convince Alya (he couldn't bring himself to ask the girl herself) for Marinette's number and the Chat Noir in him couldn't resist and labeled her contact name as 'Princess' and it made him laugh every time he saw her contact name, the memory of her brushing off the feline's attempt at flirting arising.

He learned more about her during their lunch. She did, in fact, do more than sewing and actually created some of the pastries sold at her parents' bakery (He promised himself that he would try them sometime). Her stutter had left her almost permanently when he told her how much he loved sardine and anchovy pizza and she felt the need to tease him. He almost lost his composure and nearly hugged her (though for what reason?) before he joked back that he would take her out to try it on their next date. Her face flamed at the word and he wondered if it would make Ladybug look as beautiful if Chat Noir could managed to make her blush as easily as Adrien did Marinette.

It was a good thing that they had patrol together tonight, he could give it a try again. And with one last text sent to Marinette about their next _date,_ he wondered if Ladybug would give him her number so they could communicate outside of their transformations. They were, _after all,_ friends, _right?_

With a few swipes into the air, (he _still_ couldn't get over his transformation), he jumped out of his window and headed to the meeting place.

She was standing there at the top of the La Tour Eiffel, a calm aura around her. He jumped to land beside her, landing on all fours. Standing up, smoothly, he sauntered over to her as he felt his signature smirk form on his lips, "Good evening, my lady~"

When she didn't respond, he walked over in front of her, careful not to lose his footing and fall off the tower. Her eyes were distant and there was a hint of a smile on her face. He waved a hand in front of her face before she snapped out of it.

"My lady, if you were that distracted, I hope you didn't let an akuma bypass you.."

"Stupid Chat, that would never happen." She laughed and they both sat down at the ledge. She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. They stayed in complete silence and while it usually was relaxing to Chat, it made him nervous today because of his requestion.

"Hey, my lady.."

"Mm?.."

He took a deep breath and she seemed to notice his worry and proceeded to place her hand on top of his, "W-Would it be out of the question to have your number?"

She picked her head off his shoulder and looked at him in slight confusion, "What do you mean?"

He averted his eyes, his tail swirling around even more at his nervousness, "I know what you said about our identities and all and t-that's fine!-" _It really wasn't but he wasn't about to deny his lady._ "-I just thought that.. We should be able to communicate better outside of our transformations and stuff.. I mean.. We're friends, aren't we? W-We can just use it for patrol times and stuff if you want.."

He glanced back at her and almost immediately regretted it. Though her eyes softened, she bit her lip in hesitation as she weighed out the pros and cons. His ears definitely would've fallen in disappointment if they were real.

"Forget it, it was just a random suggestion.." He stood, brushing off any dirt from his leather cat suit, preparing to jump off and go home when he was stopped by Ladybug's voice, barely audible his cat abilities managed to catch the sound.

"Okay."

He spun around, nearly falling off the tower before he went up and hugged her. She laughed happily, and he swore that it would forever be ingrained into his mind, ignoring the familiar feeling it gave him.

"Better listen up, kitty cat because I won't say it again.." And he nodded while she rattled off her number. They parted, with a kiss on her hand, and _for once_ without a smack on his head from the action.

With a final leap into the window of his bedroom, he landed gracefully next to his bed before releasing the transformation, catching Plagg in his hands. The kwami landed with a pout and immediately flew over to the stash of camembert that Adrien had hid for him. The boy flew onto his bed and grabbed his phone, immediately punching in his lady's number, saving it as 'My lady' ( _because_ _what else would she be?)_ with a gleeful chuckle.

The phone vibrated in his hand, ' **This number is already saved under 'Princess'. Would you like to edit it?'**

He blinked in confusion, Plagg's loud chewing seemed to drown out from his thoughts. Why did Marinette have the same number as his lady?


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello, guys! Thank you so much for reading my story. This is by far, my most successful story and it makes me incredibly happy that it's this wonderful fandom. I loved each and every review that was posted (I hope you guys keep it up) and they helped get me through some writer blocks so that was wonderful. I have a couple more chapters in mind for this story (not including an epilogue) and and alternative version of this chapter and the upcoming chapters so watch out for them!_

 _Athanasia xx_

* * *

Perhaps it was because it was late and he was tired, that was why he got it wrong. Marinette _was_ the last person he texted. He erased the number he punched in and waited, trying to recall what numbers Ladybug had said before entering them into his phone again.

It vibrated, ' **This number is already saved under 'Princess'. Would you like to edit it?'**

His eyebrow furrowed in a mixture of emotions before erasing and entering it again.

It vibrated, ' **This number is already saved under 'Princess'. Would you like to edit it?'**

He bit his lip, erased, and entered, pressing harder as if it would make a difference.

A vibration, ' **This number is already saved under 'Princess'. Would you like to edi-'**

 _WHY DID MARINETTE HAVE THE SAME NUMBER AS LADYBUG?_

He groaned, holding his head between his hands in confusion. _Maybe… Maybe…_ He remembered how similar they were, personality (when Marinette got comfortable around him, that is) and looks wise when it suddenly hit him.

 _MARINETTE AND LADYBUG ARE RELATED!_

He grinned at the realization, to think Plagg had the nerve to call him dense. It completely made sense now that he gave it some thought. Marinette had the same hairstyle, the same cool nature (when she wanted/needed to be anyway), _AND_ she sounded like his lady! He hugged his pillow tightly in an act of excitement. He could finally come into contact with _hopefully_ Ladybug's civilian form. He used to always think about how Ladybug would look under her mask, what clothes she would wear casually and now he knew that Marinette was related to her, it almost painted a clear picture of what she could look like though he noticed that the picture he had painted mentally looked darn well near- _well not really near but -_ exactly like Marinette. He smiled as his thoughts lulled him to sleep. He would just have to see for himself.

The world seemed to beam with happy glow as he woke up. Or maybe it was just him. He hurriedly got ready and managed to convince his driver that he had to talk to the teacher in order to get there early. He couldn't risk Marinette using the class bell as an excuse to rid him of the truth. The limo had barely pulled to a stop at the school gate before he got out of the car which almost made him trip if his reflexes weren't _catlike._

He sat on the bench as he went over what he would say.

" _Hey, Marinette. I just had this miraculous realization that you and Ladybug are related. Mind telling her to meet me?"_ No, that was a tiny bit creepy.

" _Hey, Marinette! Can you call Ladybug here?"_ No then she would have too many questions.

" _Hey, Marinette! So I was thinking since we're friends now, I could meet your_ _ **whole**_ _family!"_ No. It sounded like he was her boyfriend or something.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around, noticing Marinette with a shy smile, "G-Good morning, Adrien.. You're early."

She lowered the hand that tapped him and looked at him curiously, "What.. were you doing?"

"Huh?"

"You were walking around, making weird faces.." She demonstrated for him and he groaned. He acted out the conversation? _Great.._ They stood in silence, looking at their feet. He snapped his head up abruptly when he noticed her feet turning towards the entrance of the school. _She was about to leave!_

"M-Marinette!" He grabbed her wrist in a sense of urgency. She turned towards him, her face red.

"Y-Yes?"

 _What was he supposed to say? He didn't really think of anything.._

"I-I.. Chat, I mean, I was planning on dropping by the bakery later today. Is that okay?"

"Of course..? We're open until 9 today. Do you have anything in mind so I can make sure it's in stock when you come in?"

"W-Well.. I was thinking I could try something of yours?" He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. At times like these, he wish he could be smooth when he was Adrien.

"S-Sure! Is there a certain thing you like?"

"I'm not sure.. Have you gotten anything with camembert?" If anyone could make it smell nice, he was sure Marinette could do it. While Plagg did eat a lot, some of them were still leftover by the time he was too full to even move and the last thing Adrien needed was for the smelly cheese to mold in his room. He needed to help him finish it. And fast.

"Yeah, there's something sweet and something savory. You can try them both later today." Marinette smiled at him and he felt his lips turn into a smile, "Sounds like a plan, Mari.." The girl broke into a blush at the nickname and he prepared himself for the stuttering that he had grown to love when he noticed Alya coming towards them, her reddish-brown hair flying back behind her as she went.

"Marinette! You won't believe what just happened!" The girl quickly dragged Marinette away from him, towards the school, with a quick "I'm sorry, Adrien!" behind her. _Well there she goes.._

He spotted Nino walking towards him with a pensive look on his face.

"Hey man-" Adrien raised his hand in greeting only to have his friend pass by him. He dropped his hand in confusion before chasing after the boy, "N-Nino? Nino!"

It took some effort, passing by his classmates, and helping to pick up stuff that he caused to drop, before he finally reached his friend. He grabbed at his shoulder, carefully not hurt him with his claws before he realized that he was Adrien at the moment.

"Nino, what's wrong?" Nino turned around in a fright, a blush gracing his cheek- _wait what?_

"N-Nino?"

The boy in question stared at him with an almost frightened look on his face, breathing heavily. _What on earth happened?_ The shorter boy started jumping in face before he burst out in an ashamed shout, "IKISSEDHER. IKISSEDALYA."

And with everyone turning over to look at the two of them, the normally outgoing boy flushed a shade darker before burying his face into his hands, "OH. MON DIEU." Adrien quickly dragged his friend to the nearest empty classroom before holding his hands apart so the other boy could look at him in the eye, "You kissed Alya?"

He didn't even know why he asked, the blush seemed as if it was permanently there and the boy was looking everywhere but at him. His friend was able to move in on the person he liked faster than he was able to. _Hell, Adrien was able to see her every day and he couldn't bring himself to invade her space and possibly making her hate him. Well. No more. He will definitely make sure she knows how he_ _ **really**_ _feels about her now._ He patted Nino on his shoulder and plastered a genuine smile on his face, probably his biggest as Adrien, "Congrats man. I'm happy for you. How did she react?"

"I mean she didn't react- She was kinda frozen in place b-but she didn't push me away so that must mean something, right?" The darker boy looked at Adrien with hopeful eyes. "Yeah, man! That's awesome- I mean not that she didn't respond but at least she didn't push you away! Plus she looked really excited about something when she pulled Mari- Marinette away earlier too."

Nino looked at him, his stiff shoulders finally relenting with a smile on his face. He grinned at his best friend, "You were about to call Marinette Mari. Do you have something you want to tell me?"

Adrien's face burned and he could feel Plagg snickering underneath his unbuttoned shirt, "I-It was just a slip from when Alya called her earlier!" He was lying horribly, Alya didn't use any nickname earlier but Nino didn't need to know that. He coughed, looking at his feet as he shuffled them around awkwardly, "I-I.. I.. ahem.. was thinking of tracking Ladybug down and confessing to her." _while she was in her civilian form._

Nino looked slightly troubled as he congratulated his friend, "T-That's great, Adrien! Tell me how it goes."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing-" He rubbed the back of his neck, "-I just thought you liked Marinette."

Adrien looked at him in surprise, "You were being serious earlier?"

Coughing awkwardly, Nino looked away, "It's just you've been 'working' with her so often and you seem to like her."

Adrien choked on the air in his lungs, "I-I-I don't _like_ her. I-I mean I do! As a friend! I've only thought of her as a friend, Nino! Gosh!" He paced from back and forth anxiously, "I-I mean so what? I like hanging out with her. She's a great girl. Marinette is a _great_ girl. She's fun to hang out with- I-I mean she- she is _so_ fun to hang out with. She's so smart and- and she laughs at my terrible jokes-" _The ones that Ladybug rarely laugh at._ "-and her laugh is so pretty like lik- _No._ No, Nino. That is not what I meant. I-It just sounds pretty! I-I don't have a crush on her.I don't- " _I have a crush on Ladybug._ "S-She- Marinette just makes time slow down for me. You know.. I just don't feel like _the_ model Adrien Agreste when I'm with her. I feel.. I feel… I feel like Adrien Agreste."

Adrien glanced at Nino, stopping in his pacing, the latter looking upset, "N-Nino, I don't mean-" Nino laughed and waved his hand at the latter, "It's fine, man. I get it. She's just different."

Adrien glared at his friend, "She's not _just_ different. She's-"

Nino laughs, "Do you really think I don't know how you feel about her? Adrien man, you are a whole other being when you're with her. You get out of your shell when you're with her. You aren't so formal and awkward when you're with her- You make jokes, you laugh like a hyena when she does- Which, dude is in no way attractive. It's amazing she still likes y-" He coughed into his hand nervously, "L-Look. The point is as much as of a star you are, you shine so much brighter when you're with Marinette. She makes you happy. If you don't like her then that's fine-" He raised in his hand in defeat, "But she's good for you man and that makes me, as your best friend, happy for you."

Adrien jumped forward, his arms flying around Nino's shoulders, hugging him tightly, "Thanks, Nino."

Adrien gave him one last squeeze before releasing Nino from the hug. He began leading his friend out of the classroom with an one armed hug, "But for the record, I don't have a crush on Marinette, okay?"

Nino smirked, using his hand to push the glasses that were falling down, "Not even a little one?"

Adrien glanced at his friend before averting his eyes quickly and mumbling, embarrassed, "Maybe a little."

Nino whooped loudly, throwing a punch in the shoulder, "Way to go, Adrien!"


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a strong and confident young woman. But even strong and confident young women could get tongue tied and nervous around their crush, especially after the conversation that she just happened to stumble upon. There were too many compliments in such a duration that she wouldn't have believed it happened if it weren't for Tikki going "Way to go, Mari!"

Okay, so maybe he really did say that. Maybe Adrien Agreste, her friend and longtime crush really did say that she was smart and kind and that her laugh was _pretty._ Maybe he really did say things that she would've pegged as lovesick. That is, if she didn't know any better. But she did. There was no way that Adrien Agreste was in love with smart and kind Marinette Dupain-Cheng.. because he was in love with Ladybug.

She curled up into a ball next to a nearby desk as the realization came crashing down on her. The boy that she was starstruck over and later genuinely fell in love with, was in love with her strong superhero counterpart, the counterpart that the shy Marinette could definitely not compete with.

Ladybug. Of all people, he had to be in love with Ladybug. Although she supposed she could just be thankful that he didn't fall in love with Chloe or something. He was in love with _her_. No, not really. Marinette and Ladybug, while they were both the same person, weren't the _same_ person. They just weren't. Marinette might do things similar to Ladybug and Ladybug might do things that were similar to Marinette but there were still too many differences to call them the same person. He was in love with the impossible her, the one that she wondered would even exist if Tikki never came into her life, if Hawkmoth didn't exist.

Marinette buried her face into her knees, sighing deeply, "I thought you said Ladybugs were lucky, Tikki." The kwami stayed silent but flew out of Marinette's purse, landing on her hands, patting it gently. They stayed in place, with Marinette making soft sniffles every so often.

"Marinette.." Tikki's high pitched voice echoed through the empty classroom, filled with worry. Marinette lifted her head, slowly so Tikki would have a bit of warning to fly out of the way, before she looked at the kwami, her eyes bloodshot.

"I guess.. I guess it's a good thing that we're friends now at least, right? If he can't look at _me_ that way then he'll at least look at Marinette as a close friend, right?" Tikki nodded though it was hesitant and brief. Marinette chose to ignore it and stood up, dusting off her pants.

She looked at the clock near the door before sighing. Somehow she had managed to miss two entire- almost three classes. Hopefully Alya wasn't too worried. She quickly gestured for Tikki to fly back into her purse before bounding out the door and heading to class. She slid the door open slowly, glancing over her curious class. She handed the note to her teacher, thankful that she was smart enough to grab it from the nurse before heading to class, before heading to her seat, ignoring Adrien's worried gaze. Chloe laughed as Marinette passed her, "Oh, did someone make little Marinette cry?" She scooted closer to Marinette, adopting a look filled with false pity, "Someone finally told you that you weren't talented, didn't they?"

Marinette's eyes narrowed, her lips forming a scowl before she finally headed to her seat. She sent a weak smile over to Alya, whispering "I'll tell you later" in reply to her worried glance before directing her gaze over to the teacher.

When it came to their lunch break, Marinette quickly pulled Alya out of the classroom, smiling apologetically to Nino while ignoring Adrien's calls.

"Marinette! Slow down! What happened?"

They stopped in the classroom she was crying in over an hour ago. Alya looked at her worried while Marinette looked at the ground, swallowing harshly, "I found out who Adrien likes."

Alya smiled, stepping towards her best friend, ready to hug her, "He finally told you how he feels?"

Marinette gasped, a sob escaping her once again, "He's in love with _Ladybug._ "

"Yeah, well we all knew he had a fanboy obsession with her but I wouldn't go as far as to call him _in love_ with her, Mari."

Marinette shook her head furiously, the last of her tears fell as an uncontrollable amount of hysteria rose and broke through her composure, "No, he's going to confess, Alya. The reason why he never looked at me was because he was in love with a masked superhero." She looked at her friend in the eyes, "They're perfect together, aren't they? The superhero and the model. Just perfect." _Too bad it would never happen._

A hand touched her shoulder as she continued to blabber on, "You wouldn't even believe it, Alya! I walked in on the two talking and he was talking about me.. Like he was in love! And i just fell for it! But he's in love with _her."_

It was amazing how so much hate could be filled in one word, about herself. It was amazing how much hate could come through about her alter ego when it gave her so much freedom, when it let her be her a stronger version of herself, when it gave her _Chat._

A glance at Alya's worried face was what it took for her to snap out of it.

"I'm… Overreacting, aren't I? I'm lucky enough that we're friends. I shouldn't have ever expected for more.."

"Girl, you know that's not true. You are an amazing girl and if pretty boy can't see that then it's his lost. _He's_ lucky that you're friends."

Marinette laughed before throwing herself at Alya, hugging her tightly, "Thanks for being my friend. I don't know what I would do without you."

Alya hugged her back with a gentle smile, "Anything for my best girl.." As Marinette let go, Alya waved at the door with a grand flourish, "Now how about we go eat some of the best of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie's for lunch?"

They left the school as they giggled quietly together, a gentle smile gracing Marinette's lips.

* * *

Hi guys! Sorry that it took me so long to upload this. I was really busy with school (I got into homecoming court!) and I got sick for a long while. The chapter is a bit short (compared to the other ones anyway at least from what I can tell) but I'm actually really proud of how it was written. I couldn't think of a way to continue from the end so I will resume at another point in the next chapter. Sorry for the wait and keep up the reviews~  
Athanasia xx


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